Flash drive FAT32 v NTFS

[Roderunner]

Hi Folks, I have a 32gb flash drive in FAT32 format containing 158 folders some have sub folders total size 24.4gb. All are music albums in MP3 format as this is all I can use to play them in my car.
One of the albums was corrupted (unknown name) forcing me to reformat the drive as it could not be deleted. Replacing them from an HDD in NTFS took almost 1 hour.
After a short period of use, another file got corrupted, (a Leonard Cohen folder) so I did the same again.
Then it happened again as in my image.


Please note I am not looking for a fix for this.

The flash drive had only been used on my Desktop wired pc, when it was attached to my Laptop, I got this:-


I accessed the files on my flash drive and was able to delete all of the corrupt files as in above image.
Isn't life fun!!!!

I now have that same flash drive formatted to NTFS and it is working perfectly but not used in my car.

A brief explanation would be appreciated.

 

[iko22]

Hello Roderunner,

Perhaps the Desktop wired PC has a faulty USB connection, or maybe has a virus of some kind. When was the last time this computer had a virus scan? Had you checked Device Manager for faulty devices?

 

[Roderunner]

Hello Roderunner,

Perhaps the Desktop wired PC has a faulty USB connection, or maybe has a virus of some kind. When was the last time this computer had a virus scan? Had you checked Device Manager for faulty devices?

My Desktop pc works perfectly. What I want to know is why a flash drive will work in NTFS but not so well in FAT32.

 

[Megahertz07]

The default for all flash drive is FAT32 format, basically because Fat is universal (Linux, Windows, Mac).
The only explanation for corruption files is a bad connection while writing or a bad drive.

 

[johnhoh]

My Desktop pc works perfectly. What I want to know is why a flash drive will work in NTFS but not so well in FAT32.

NTFS is a journaling file system but FAT32 is not. Journaling helps prevent corruption when file writes are interrupted when they are not complete, which happens a lot with usb drives because people do not wait for (or even use) the "its safe to remove your device now" message. Waiting for that message is important because cache writing may be on by default so you think the files being written are done but they are really not.
NTFS journaling - Wikipedia

 

[LMiller7]

My guess is the drive is failing.
When used with FAT32 the bad blocks are being used in a folder structure where the problem is easily visible. When used with NTFS the blocks may currently be unused or used as data blocks. In the latter case you would not see the problem unless you played the effected file.

 

[Roderunner]

The default for all flash drive is FAT32 format, basically because Fat is universal (Linux, Windows, Mac).
The only explanation for corruption files is a bad connection while writing or a bad drive.

FAT32 is only for drives upto 32gb

NTFS is a journaling file system but FAT32 is not. Journaling helps prevent corruption when file writes are interrupted when they are not complete, which happens a lot with usb drives because people do not wait for (or even use) the "its safe to remove your device now" message. Waiting for that message is important because cache writing may be on by default so you think the files being written are done but they are really not.
NTFS journaling - Wikipedia

Drive is still working in NTFS without trouble.

My guess is the drive is failing.
When used with FAT32 the bad blocks are being used in a folder structure where the problem is easily visible. When used with NTFS the blocks may currently be unused or used as data blocks. In the latter case you would not see the problem unless you played the effected file.

Thanks